Discovery

• The GOOD NEWS
• GOD - His love
• HUMANITY - Our need
• JESUS - God’s solution
• YOU and ME - Our Response

THE GOOD NEWS

Jesus - God’s solution

God sent his son Jesus to draw us back to him - (Taken from Questions for life - Nickey Gumbel)

A missionary working among children in the Middle East was driving her jeep down a road when she ran out of petrol.  She had no petrol can in her car.  All she could find was a potty.  She walked a mile down the road to the nearest petrol station. And filled the potty with petrol.  She walked back to the Land Rover and started pouring the petrol into the fuel tank.  At that moment a very large Cadillac drew up occupied by wealthy oil sheikhs.  They we absolutely fascinated at seeing her pouring the contents of the potty into the jeep.  One of them opened the electric window, and said to her, "Excuse me!  My friend and I, although we do not share your religion, we greatly admire your faith!" 

Some people see becoming a Christian as a blind leap of faith.  The type of faith that would be needed in expecting a car to run on the usual contents of a potty.  In Christianity there is indeed a step of faith required.  However, it is not a blind leap of faith, but a step of faith based on firm historical evidence..  Tonight we are going to look at that historical evidence.

In one of the communist Russian dictionaries, Jesus is described as 'a mythical figure who never existed.'  No serious historian could maintain that position today.  There is a great deal of evidence for Jesus existence.  This comes not only from the Gospels and other Christian writings, but also from non-Christian sources.  For example, the Roman historians Tactitus (directly) and Suetonius (indirectly) both write about him.  The Jewish historian Josephus, who was not a Christian, born in AD37 describes Jesus and his followers like this:

Now there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works - a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.  He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.  He was (the) Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians so named after him; are not extinct at this day.

So there is evidence outside the New Testament for the existence of Jesus.  Further more the evidence in the New Testament is very strong.  Sometimes people say 'The New Testament was written a long time ago.  How do we know that what they wrote down has not been changed over the years?  How do we know that what we read in the bible is really what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John actually wrote”?

The answer is that we do know very accurately through the science of textual criticism, what the New Testament writers wrote.  Essentially the more texts we have the less doubt there is about the original.  The late Professor F.F. Bruce (who was Rylands professor of biblical criticism and exegesis at the University of Manchester) shows in his book 'Are the New Testament Documents Reliable?' how wealthy the New Testament is in manuscript attestation by comparing the texts with other historical works.  You can see on page 2 in your notes a summary of the facts showing the extent of New Testament evidence.

F. F. Bruce points out that for Caesar's Gaelic War we have nine or ten copies and the oldest was written some 900 years later than Caesar's day. For Livy's Roman History we have not more than twenty copies, the earliest of which comes from around AD 900. Of the fourteen books of the histories of Tacitus only twenty copies survive; of the sixteen books of his Annals, ten portions of his two great historical works depend entirely on two manuscripts, one of the ninth century and one of the eleventh century. The history of Thucydides is known almost entirely from eight manuscripts belonging to C. AD 900. The same is true of the history of Herodotus. Yet no classical scholar doubts the authenticity of these works, in spite of the large time gap and the relatively few manuscripts.

When we come to the New Testament we have a great wealth of material.  The New Testament was written between 40-100AD, the earliest copy that we have, remarkably only found relatively recently, was part of John's gospel which was written in AD 130 only 30 years after the close of the cannon, (this is actually in the John Ryland library on Deansgate, and you can ask to see it if you wish).  And we have full manuscripts of the whole New Testament dating from as early as 350AD.  Remember that with the others there are between 10 and 20 sometimes only 8, for the New Testament we have 5,000 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, 9,300 other manuscripts and there are 36,000 quotes in the Fathers.

One of the greatest textual critics F.J.A. Hort, said,

"In the variety and fullness of the evidence on which it rests, the text of the New Testament stands absolutely and unapproachably alone among ancient prose writings"

F. F. Bruce summarises the evidence by quoting Sir Frederick Kenyon, a leading scholar in this area:

The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.

So, we can trust that New Testament records are what the original authors wrote about Jesus.  They are accurate records of what they wrote.  And if there is any doubt there is a little note in the margin that says alternative reading.

What did Jesus say about himself?

So we know from the evidence outside and inside the New Testament that Jesus existed.  But who is he?

Martin Scorsese said on TV that he made the film The Last Temptation of Christ in order to show that Jesus was a real human being. Yet that is not the issue at the moment. Few people today would doubt that Jesus was fully human. He had a human body; he was sometimes tired (John 4:6) and hungry (Matthew 4:2). He had human emotions; he was angry (Mark 11.15-17), he loved (Mark 10:21) and he was sad (John 11:35).  He had human experiences; he was tempted (Mark 1:13), he learned (Luke 2:52), he worked (Mark 6:31 and he obeyed his parents (Luke 2:51).

What many say today is that Jesus was only a human being--albeit a great religious teacher. The comedian, Billy Connolly spoke for many when he said, 'I can't believe in Christianity, but I think Jesus was a wonderful man.'

But what evidence is there to suggest that Jesus was more than just a wonderful man, or a great moral teacher? The answer, as we shall see, is that there is a great deal of evidence. This evidence supports the Christian contention that Jesus was and is the unique Son of God. Indeed, he is God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity.

What is the evidence?

Well we are going to look at the evidence under two main headings.  The first is this:  What did Jesus say about himself?  Did he claim to be God?  The second part is "What evidence is there to support what Jesus said about himself?".

Some people say, 'Jesus never claimed to be God.' Indeed, it is true that Jesus did not go round saying the words, 'I am God.' Yet when one looks at all he taught and claimed, there is little doubt that he was conscious of being a man whose identity was God.

His teaching centred on himself

One of the fascinating things about Jesus is that so much of his teaching did centre on himself. He said to people, in effect, 'If you want to have a relationship with God you need to come to me' (see John 14:6). It's through a relationship with him that we encounter God.  Whereas with great religious teachers their teaching was centred around principles and rules and philosophies.  With Jesus Christ it was centred around himself.  Constantly he said I am,  I am this, I am that. 

Prince Charles said as I referenced previously.  "There remains deep in the soul, a persistent and unconscious anxiety that something is missing, some ingredient that makes life worth living". In fact I think that we would all recognise that there is a hunger deep within the human heart. The leading psychologists of the twentieth century have all recognised this. Freud said, 'People are hungry for love.' Jung said, 'People are hungry for security.'  Adler said, "People are hungry for significance.'  Jesus said, "I am the bread of life"  I am the one who can satisfy that hunger, who can make in Prince Charles words, life worth living.  I am the bread of life.  (John 6:35)

Many people are walking in darkness, depression, disillusionment and despair.  They are looking for direction.  Jesus said I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.  (John 8:12).  Someone once said after they became a Christian,  'It was as if the light had suddenly been turned on and I could see things for the first time.'

People are often frightened about death, they don't like to think about it, but if they do, often they have no answer.  Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will not die, of course he will physically, but he will have everlasting life."  (John 11:25-26)

People are looking for a way to God.  The New age movement is growing.  You see people looking at horoscopes, looking at crystals, people looking for a way to something outside themselves.  And Jesus said, "I am the way” People are looking for a system of thinking that really works Jesus said; "I am the truth".  People are looking to get the most out of their lives.  Jesus said, "I am the life"

Other people said this is the way; this is the truth, that is the way to lead your life.  Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. (Jn 12)

People are often carrying around a whole load of baggage, anxiety, guilt, fears, Jesus said, "Come unto me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"  (Matthew 11:28)

People sometimes look for those who they can admire and strive to be like.  Jesus  said "follow me".  (Mark 1:17)

He said: to receive me is to receive God (Matthew 10:40), to welcome me is to welcome God (Mark 9:37), to see me is to see God (John 14:9).  An astonishing claim.  There is the story of a little girl who was drawing.  Her mother asked her, "Darling what are you drawing." The little girls said, "I'm drawing a picture of God", Her mum said "Oh don't be silly nobody knows what God looks like!"  The little girl said, "Well they will do by the time I have finished my picture!"

Jesus said if you want to know what God looks like, look at me!  That is not a claim that is made by a good religious teacher.  Here is Fiona, Fiona is a good religious teacher.  Supposing as you came in on the first session Fiona had said to you, "Hello my name is Fiona, by the way if you have seen me you have seen God."  You would think there is something slightly funny there wouldn't you.

Lets look now at what Jesus said more indirectly

Jesus said a number of things that, although not direct claims to be God, show that he regarded himself as being in the same position as God, as we will see in the examples that follow.

Jesus' claim to be able to forgive sins is well known. For example, on one occasion he said to a man who was paralysed, 'Son, your sins are forgiven' (Mark 2:5). The reaction of the religious leaders was, 'Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?' Jesus went on to prove that he did have the authority to forgive sins by healing the paralysed man. This claim to be able to forgive sins is indeed an astonishing claim.

In the story of Jesus healing a paralysed man Jesus takes on himself the authority of God, and he says, "so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."  So the claim to forgive sins is an indirect claim to be the unique Son of God.

Jesus also claimed that one day he would judge the world (Matthew 25:31-32).  He said that he would return and 'sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  All the nations would be gathered before him.. He would pass judgement on them. The sheep on the right and the goats on the left.  He said, 'One day you are all going to be there and I am going to divide you, and the criteria for judgement is going to be how you responded to me in you time on earth.  Whether you knew me, whether you were living in a relationship with me or whether you weren't.'  Again that is an astonishing claim.

Suppose on a friend of yours said to you, "On the Day of Judgement you will all appear before me and I will decide your eternal destiny, what happens to you will depend on how you responded to me in this life".  What would you do?  You'd wonder what kind of drugs they were taking wouldn't you.  Because that is an indirect claim to be God.

Well we have seen some of Jesus indirect claims - What were his direct claims?

When the question was put to him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' Jesus said, 'I am . . . and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.' The high priest tore his clothes. 'Why do we need any more witnesses?' he asked. 'You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?' (Mark 14:61-64). In this account it appears Jesus was condemned to death for the assertion he made about himself. A claim tantamount to a claim to be God was blasphemy in Jewish eyes, worthy of death.

On one occasion, when the Jews started to stone Jesus, he asked, 'Why are you stoning me?' They replied that they were stoning him for blasphemy 'because you, a mere man, claim to be God' (John 10:33). His enemies clearly thought that this was exactly what he was declaring.

When Thomas, one of his disciples, knelt down before Jesus and said, 'My Lord and my God' (John 20:28), Jesus didn't turn to him and say, 'No, no, don't say that; I am not God.' He said, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed' (John 20:29). He rebuked Thomas for being so slow to get the point.

If somebody makes claims like these they need to be tested. There are all sorts of people who make all kinds of claims. The mere fact that somebody claims to be someone does not mean that they are right. Margaret Thatcher when she was still Prime Minister was visiting once a psychiatric hospital and as she went through the door a patient came up to her and she stuck out her hand and said "Hello, I'm Margaret Thatcher the prime minister."  The patient said to her "Don't worry dear you'll soon get over it I was like that when I first came in here!" 

There are many people some in psychiatric hospitals, who are deluded.  They think that they are Napoleon or the Pope, but they are not.

So how can we test people's claims? Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God; God made flesh. There are three logical possibilities.  If the claims were untrue,

Either he knew they were untrue--in which case he was an impostor, and an evil one at that. That is the first possibility. Or he did not know--in which case he was deluded; indeed, he was mad. That is the second possibility. The third possibility is that the claims were true.

What evidence is their to support what Jesus said

In order to assess which of these three possibilities is right we need to examine the evidence that we have about his life.

1  His teaching

What about the teaching of Jesus Christ?  What do we make of it?  Many people would acknowledge it to be the greatest teaching which has every fallen from anyone's lips.  Many people who are not Christians say that the Sermon on the Mount is the finest teaching that has ever been given.

Bernard Ramm, and American professor of theology, said this about the teachings of Jesus:

They are read more, quoted more, loved more, believed more, and translated more because they are the greatest words ever spoken... Their greatness lies in the pure lucid spirituality in dealing clearly, definitively, and authoritatively with the greatest problems that throb in the human breast... No other man's words have the appeal of Jesus' words because no other man can answer these fundamental human questions as Jesus answered them.  They are the kind of words and the kind of answers we would expect God to give.

So first of all there is his teaching.  Is that the teaching of someone who is evil, is it the teaching of somebody who is deluded?

2 Then there are his works.

Sometimes people say Christianity is so boring.  All those services they are so dull.  But you know it would not have been boring being around Jesus Christ.  Can you imagine being with Jesus?

1.  You are off to a party with Jesus.  And you get to the party and they are serving Sainsbury's plonk, and the plonk runs out and Jesus says, "Oh have you got any bath water?"  You go off and you get some bath water and you start pouring it into cups and out come Château-le-fête 1945! 

2.  Or Jesus says why don't go on a picnic today?  Five thousand of us, why don't we go on a picnic?  You say "Well shall I arrange the catering?" and he says "No don't bother, we've got a couple of sandwiches, that'll do!"

3  Or supposing you say "lets go down to the beach today", And Jesus says "OK" and you say "Shall we take the water skis?" and Jesus says "No don't bother, we're walking today!" 

4  I don't think that it was boring going to a funeral with Jesus.  Imagine going to Lazarus funeral, he arrived at it Lazarus had been dead for 4 days and he said "Roll the stone away from the tomb” They said "Don't take the stone away, there will be a terrible smell after 4 days."  He said "Well just trust me, take the stone away."  They take the stone away and he says, "Lazarus come out!"  Lazarus come out, he is covered with bandages, head, arms feet. He says, "Just unwrap him and let him go."

Jesus said, "Do not believe in me unless I do what my father does, but if I do it, even though you do not believe in me believe in the miracles that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the Father." (John 10:38) 

Yet it was not just his miracles that made his works so impressive.  It was his love, especially of the unloved, which seemed to motivate all that he did.  Supremely it was his love shown on the cross.  When they tortured him and nailed him to the cross he said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 22:34))

He is not mad: he did what he said.  He had real power.  He is not evil he did wonderful things.  He loved people.  

His works are the second supporting piece of evidence.

3 his character.

It can be fascinating to read what people who are not Christians write about Jesus Christ, because people who aren't Christians still recognize in Jesus something completely different. 

William Haslet, who was very anti-Christian, wrote this:

There is something in the character of Christ, leaving religious faith out of the question, of more sweetness and majesty and more likely to work a change in the mind of a man by the contemplation of its idea alone, than of any to be found in history, whether actual or feigned.

Or to bring it more up to date, Bernard Levin perhaps the greatest columnist of this generation wrote:

"For the fourteenth thousandth time I am not a Christian",

But then in the same article went on to write this:

"Is not the nature of Christ, in the words of the New Testament, enough to pierce to the soul anyone with a soul to be pierced?... he still looms over the world, his message still clear, his pity still infinite, his consolation still effective, his words still full of glory, wisdom and love"

When Ghandi was murdered Pansi Nearie, the then Prime Minister was looking for words to describe Ghandi, and he said, "He was the most Christ-like man I ever knew"  This was one Hindu speaking another looked to the person of Jesus Christ as the pinnacle of human character.

You can test a man's character with how they are under pressure.  How do they respond when they are in pain?  I know what it is like when I am in pain; the worse side of me comes out.  Jesus was in pain having been flogged and hanging on a cross in agony, he looked at the people who were responsible and he said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."  Are those the words of an evil man or a deluded man, surely his character supports his claims.

Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham wrote:

The first thing we must learn about him is that we would have been absolutely entranced by his company.  Jesus was irresistibly attractive as a man... What they crucified was a young man, vital, full of life and the joy of it, the Lord of life itself, and even more the Lord of laughter, someone so utterly attractive that people followed him for the sheer fun of it... the twentieth Century needs to recapture the vision of this glorious and happy man whose mere presence filled his companions with delight.  No pale Galilean he, but a veritable Pied Piper of Hamelin who would have the children laughing all round him and squealing with pleasure and joy as he picked them up.

Here was a man who exemplified supreme unselfishness but never self-pity; humility but not weakness; joy but never at another's expense; kindness but not indulgence. 

4 his fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy.

There isn't a single religious leader of any cult or anything at all; who can point to definite prophesies before their coming that they were going to arrive.

Wilbur Smith, the American writer on theological topics said:

The ancient world had many different devices for determining the future, known as divination, but not in the entire gamut of Greek and Latin literature, even though they used the words prophet and prophecy, can we find any real specific prophecy of a great historic event to come in the distant future, nor any prophesy of a Savour to arrive in the human race....  Mohammedanism cannot point to any prophecies of the coming of Mohammed uttered hundreds of years before his birth.  Neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling their appearance.

In Jesus’ case, he fulfilled over 300 prophecies.  Including 29 major prophesies fulfilled in a single day - the day he died.

Some people say, "Well maybe Jesus was a bit of a con-man, what happened was this: Jesus got hold of his bible his Old Testament and he read through it and he saw these 300 prophesies and he thought: right I am going to fulfil those in my life.  I am deliberately going to set out to fulfil those prophecies."  The difficulty with that argument is how do you do it?  Many of those prophecies were about the exact manner of his death, very difficult to deliberately engineer those.  Some were about where he was going to be buried, very difficult to fulfil those.  One of them was about the place he was going to be born.  What do you do about that?  O I'm going to be born in Bethlehem - help; it’s a bit late.  These things were all prophesied about him.  That's another piece of evidence that he really was the Messiah of God.

5  and most important of his conquest of death.  The evidence for the physical resurrection of Jesus is very strong indeed and you can find more about that at: God raised him from the dead. (below).

CS Lewis said:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse...but let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Jesus died on the cross for us - [top]

We all have a need to deal with the problem of sin in our lives. The greater our understanding of our need the more we will appreciate what God has done. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, wrote: 'The central theme of our faith is the sacrifice of himself by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins.... The deeper our appreciation of our own need the greater will be our love for the Lord Jesus and, therefore, the more fervent our desire to serve him.'

The good news of Christianity is that God loves us and he did not leave us in the mess that we make of our own lives. He came to earth, in the person of his Son Jesus to die instead of us (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13). This is what John Stott, author of many books and Rector Emeritus of All Souls, Langham Place, calls the 'self-substitution of God'. In the words of the Apostle Peter, 'He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree...by his wounds you have been healed' (1 Peter 2:24, italics mine).

What does self-substitution mean? In his book Miracle on the River Kwai Ernest Gordon tells the true story of a group of POWs working on the Burma Railway during World War II. At the end of each day the tools were collected from the work party. On one occasion a Japanese guard shouted that a shovel was missing and demanded to know which man had taken it. He began to rant and rave, working himself up into a paranoid fury and ordered whoever was guilty to step forward. No one moved. 'All die! All die!' he shrieked, cocking and aiming his rifle at the prisoners. At that moment one man stepped forward and the guard clubbed him to death with his rifle while he stood silently to attention.  When they returned to the camp, the tools were counted again and no shovel was missing. That one man had gone forward as a substitute to save the others.

In the same way Jesus came as our substitute. He endured crucifixion for us. Cicero described crucifixion as 'the most cruel and hideous of tortures'. Jesus was stripped and tied to a whipping post. He was flogged with four or five thongs of leather interwoven with sharp jagged bone and lead. Eusebius, the third-century church historian, described Roman flogging in these terms: the sufferer's 'veins were laid bare, and. . . the very muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim were open to exposure'. He was then taken to the Praetorium where a crown of thorns was thrust onto his head. He was mocked by a battalion of 600 men and hit about the face and head. He was then forced to carry a heavy cross bar on his bleeding shoulders until he collapsed, and Simon of Cyrene was press-ganged into carrying it for him.

When they reached the site of crucifixion, he was again stripped naked. He was laid on the cross, and six-inch nails were driven into his forearms, just above the wrist. His knees were twisted sideways so that the ankles could be nailed between the tibia and the Achilles' tendon. He was lifted up on the cross that was then dropped into a socket in the ground. There he was left to hang in intense heat and unbearable thirst, exposed to the ridicule of the crowd. He hung there in unthinkable pain for six hours while his life slowly drained away.

Yet the worst part of his suffering was not the physical trauma or torture and crucifixion or even the emotional pain of being rejected by the world and deserted

by his friends, but the spiritual agony of being cut off from his Father for us--as he carried our sins.

This is how Matthews Gospel tells the story:

Matthew 26:³⁶Then Jesus brought them to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go on ahead to pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he began to be filled with anguish and deep distress. ³⁸He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me.”

³⁹He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.” ⁴⁰Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay awake and watch with me even one hour? ⁴¹Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!”

⁴²Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away until I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for they just couldn’t keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴So he went back to pray a third time, saying the same things again. 45Then he came to the disciples and said, “Still sleeping? Still resting? Look, the time has come. I, the Son of Man, am betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Up, let’s be going. See, my betrayer is here!”

⁴⁷And even as he said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a mob that was armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent out by the leading priests and other leaders of the people. ⁴⁸Judas had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give him the kiss of greeting.” ⁴⁹So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Teacher!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss.

⁵⁰Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.” Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹One of the men with Jesus pulled out a sword and slashed off an ear of the high priest’s servant.

⁵²“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will be killed by the sword. ⁵³Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands£ of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? ⁵⁴But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”

⁵⁵Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous criminal, that you have come armed with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. ⁵⁶But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.

⁵⁷Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and other leaders had gathered. ⁵⁸Meanwhile, Peter was following far behind and eventually came to the courtyard of the high priest’s house. He went in, sat with the guards, and waited to see what was going to happen to Jesus.

⁵⁹Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. ⁶⁰But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, there was no testimony they could use. Finally, two men were found ⁶¹who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” ⁶³But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say. And in the future you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror, shouting, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. 66What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they shouted. “He must die!”

⁶⁷Then they spit in Jesus’ face and hit him with their fists. And some slapped him, ⁶⁸saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?”

⁶⁹Meanwhile, as Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, a servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said.

⁷¹Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.

⁷³A little later some other bystanders came over to him and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”

⁷⁴Peter said, “I swear by God, I don’t know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went away, crying bitterly.

Matthew 27:¹Very early in the morning, the leading priests and other leaders met again to discuss how to persuade the Roman government to sentence Jesus to death. ²Then they bound him and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

³When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and other leaders. ⁴“I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”

“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” ⁵Then Judas threw the money onto the floor of the Temple and went out and hanged himself. ⁶The leading priests picked up the money. “We can’t put it in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it’s against the law to accept money paid for murder.” ⁷After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. ⁸That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood. ⁹This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says, “They took the thirty pieces of silver the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel ¹⁰and purchased the potter’s field, as the Lord directed.”

¹¹Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the King of the Jews?” the governor asked him.

Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say.”

¹²But when the leading priests and other leaders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. ¹³“Don’t you hear their many charges against you?” Pilate demanded. ¹⁴But Jesus said nothing, much to the governor’s great surprise.

¹⁵Now it was the governor’s custom to release one prisoner to the crowd each year during the Passover celebrationanyone they wanted. ¹⁶This year there was a notorious criminal in prison, a man named Barabbas. ¹⁷As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to youBarabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸(He knew very well that the Jewish leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)

¹⁹Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone, because I had a terrible nightmare about him last night.”

²⁰Meanwhile, the leading priests and other leaders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. ²¹So when the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?” the crowd shouted back their reply: “Barabbas!”

²²“But if I release Barabbas,” Pilate asked them, “what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

And they all shouted, “Crucify him!”

²³“Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the crowd only roared the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this man. The responsibility is yours!”

²⁵And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death we and our children!”

²⁶So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him.

²⁷Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire battalion. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹They made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they placed a stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery, yelling, “Hail! King of the Jews!” ³⁰And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and beat him on the head with it. ³¹When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

³²As they were on the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ³³Then they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means Skull Hill). ³⁴The soldiers gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it.

³⁵After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. ³⁶Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. ³⁷A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸Two criminals were crucified with him, their crosses on either side of his. ³⁹And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. ⁴⁰“So! You can destroy the Temple and build it again in three days, can you? Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

⁴¹The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders also mocked Jesus. ⁴²“He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the king of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him! ⁴³He trusted Godlet God show his approval by delivering him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴And the criminals who were crucified with him also shouted the same insults at him.

⁴⁵At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. ⁴⁶At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

⁴⁷Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. ⁴⁸One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a stick so he could drink. ⁴⁹But the rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see whether Elijah will come and save him.”

⁵⁰Then Jesus shouted out again, and he gave up his spirit. ⁵¹At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, ⁵²and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead ⁵³after Jesus’ resurrection. They left the cemetery, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”

We each have to make up our own mind!

God Raised Him From The Dead - [top]

The evidence for the physical resurrection of Jesus is very strong indeed.  There are 4 strands of evidence

1 The first piece of evidence is his absence from the tomb. 

Let’s read one of the bible accounts

Luke 24 ¹But very early on Sunday morning the women came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ²They found that the stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside. ³So they went in, but they couldn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴They were puzzled, trying to think what could have happened to it. Suddenly, two men appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. ⁵The women were terrified and bowed low before them. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive? ⁶He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead! Don’t you remember what he told you back in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again the third day?”

⁸Then they remembered that he had said this. ⁹So they rushed back to tell his eleven disciplesand everyone elsewhat had happened. ¹⁰The women who went to the tomb were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several others. They told the apostles what had happened, ¹¹but the story sounded like nonsense, so they didn’t believe it. ¹²However, Peter ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.

There is little doubt as you read the New Testament that Jesus body was not there when they went to look.  What happened to it? 

i.The first theory is that Jesus never died.

Well what is the evidence?  Muslims believe that another person was killed instead of Jesus.  That is very, very unlikely.  Jesus was a public figure, on the cross he was seen at close quarters.  His enemies the Chief Priests and Rabbis would have made sure that the ‘trouble maker’ was the one on the cross.  There is no hint of a question in the texts of the day that the man who was on the cross was Jesus.

Could Jesus have survived the ordeal?  Here is a man who was flogged in a Roman flogging which would have killed many people.  He was then hung on a cross for 6 hours, again enough to kill most people.  If the officers who were in command of his execution had failed they themselves would have been executed themselves, that was the penalty.  And in the case of Jesus there is this very interesting piece of evidence, that is that out of his side when they pierced it, came blood and water.  That is to say that there was a separation of clot and serum, that is not how they put it, but that is what happened, and we now know, though they didn't know then, that is medical evidence of death.  So when they wrote in John 19:34 and gave that description, they didn't know that what they were describing was medical evidence of death.  We know now, and because they didn't know it is even stronger evidence that he really was dead.  Indeed the reverse is so absurd, the idea that Jesus having been put in a tomb with a one and a half ton rock in front of it, suddenly recovered in the cool of the tomb, and walked up and pushed the stone away, and then appeared to his disciples and said I am alive (resurrected), and they believed him.  It’s just so absurd as to be not worth even considering.

ii The second theory is that the disciples stole the body. 

The disciples were very disappointed that Jesus hadn't risen from the dead so they stole the body so the tomb was empty and they went around saying "Jesus has risen from the dead!"  And actually they had hidden him somewhere, or something.  There was a scientist at Cambridge University, who became a Christian over this very issue because it was an absurd theory that those men would go out and die for something that they knew was not true.  If you read the teaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost could he have preached that sermon if he knew all that time that he had the body locked away somewhere?  He couldn't have done it: it is psychologically implausible.

iii The third explanation is that the authorities stole the body. 

Why would the authorities want to steal the body and start a rumour that Jesus had risen from the dead?  And if they had stolen the body and people were saying Jesus has risen from the dead all they had to do was say "Oh sorry mate, here he is" but they never did that.

iv The fourth explanation is Well maybe it was robbers. 

Well if robbers stole the body, the only thing that was valuable was the spices in which Jesus was wrapped: the women were coming after the Sabbath to put some on the body, presumably because he had to be buried quickly before Sunset starting the Sabbath.  There is also an extraordinary verse in John 20, when Peter and John arrived at the tomb, you see the empty tomb is a misnomer, that is why I have said the absence from the tomb, because what Peter and John saw when they arrived at the tomb, they looked in and what did they see?  The description is that they saw the grave clothes of Jesus were still there.  Robbers hadn't take them, the grave clothes were still there, and they had collapsed, it was like the empty cocoon of a caterpillar, when the butterfly has emerged.  And the piece that had been wrapped round his head was folded up and put in a separate place.  And it says that when Peter saw this, he saw and believed.  He knew there was no other possible explanation, for the absence of the body but the presence of the grave clothes in the tomb.

So that is the first piece of evidence for the resurrection, Jesus’ absence from the tomb.

2 The second piece of evidence is the many witnesses

Jesus was seen by more than 500 people on 11 different occasions over a period of 6 weeks.  Some people say perhaps that was hallucination, wishful thinking, they wanted to see Jesus so they though they were, they were hallucinating it wasn't really Jesus at all.  It was just a ghost or something.  Well highly-strung emotionally unstable very nervous people do sometimes hallucinate.  Look at the people who were hallucinating.  These were great burly fishermen, they were tax-collectors.  Do you know many tax collectors who hallucinate?  We may accuse them of hallucinating, but on the whole they are very down to earth.  On one occasion over 500 people saw him, and when you read the accounts they don't sound like hallucinations.  What about Thomas the sceptic? he says "I am not going to believe unless I see!  You won't fool me!"  And when Jesus comes to him he kneels at his feet and says ‘My Lord and my God’.  

In Luke 24:38-43, Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?  39  Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." 

On another occasion he cooked them breakfast, ghosts don't cook breakfast.  He cooked them breakfast and said come and eat! And ate with them.

Even Paul backs up his preaching by reminding his hearers ⁵He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. ⁶After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive,  Years later 500 people were expected to remember and testify that they too had seen Jesus alive after he had hung on a cross.

The evidence of the witnesses is strong.

3.  The third piece of evidence the immediate effect. - the church began

After the Cross, the disciples were demoralised and defeated.  They were afraid of the Jews and denied that they had ever known Jesus.

Only a few days later they were risking their lives to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah….

Over the next 300 years Christianity spread like wild fire over the whole know world, every race tribe continent, it spread like wildfire.  The good news of Jesus life death and resurrection went everywhere to people of different background, different personality, different social, different economic, every kind of person.   Michael Green puts it like this: "Beginning with a handful of uneducated fisherman and tax-gatherers it swept across the whole know world in the next 300 years.  It is a perfectly amazing story of a peaceful revolution that has no parallel in the history of the world. “   Something was happening that transformed a band of dispirited Jewish followers of a great Teacher.  I can see no other logical conclusion other than that they knew Jesus was risen from the dead and that he empowered these ordinary people to change the world by proclaiming Jesus as Lord.

4 And finally the last of our jigsaw pieces - the testimony of people today.

For nearly 2,000 years, in every culture, men and women have claimed that we can know the risen Christ for ourselves, today.  Wilson Carlisle a founder of the Church Army was preaching at Hyde Park Corner and he said, "Jesus Christ is alive today".  There was a heckler in the crowd, and the heckler shouted back, "How do you know he is alive today?"  Wilson Carlisle said, "I was speaking to him for half an hour this morning".  That is the ultimate proof that Jesus is alive, not just that Wilson Carlisle has experienced that but there are 17 hundred million people in the world today have experienced the fact that Jesus is alive.

And does it matter?  Isn’t it all just about if it’s good for you do it?

NO.  Faith is a step off the cliff.  God’s existence can never be empirically proved, but I have hoped to show you that there is a lot of evidence; enough to show that faith in Jesus is something that rational people can have.

But it is NOT just ‘ok for me’ or just a question of temperament.  St Paul said And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.  But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all people.  1 Corinthians 15. 14-19

This is an important truth to think about.  If Jesus is not raised from the dead, then our message is a nice, comforting,  pack of lies; our faith is useless and we are to be pitied more than most.

The resurrection matters.

If you take the claim of Jesus to be God, then you look at his teaching, the things that he did, his character, his fulfilment of prophecy and his resurrection from the dead, all those pieces of evidence, I would suggest, point to the fact that this man was not deluded he was not evil and therefore they drive us to the logical conclusion on the evidence that Jesus was who he claimed to be.

C. S. Lewis sums it up like this:

We are face then with a frightening alternative.  The man we are talking about was (and is) just what he said or else a lunatic or something worse.  Now it seems to me obvious that he was neither a lunatic nor a fiend; and consequently however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that he was and is God.  God has landed on this enemy occupied world in human form.

Through Jesus, God offers life to everyone: - [top]

Like a beautiful diamond the cross has many facets. On the cross, the powers of evil were disarmed (Colossians 2:15). Death and demonic powers were defeated. On the cross, God revealed his love for us. He showed that he is not a God who is aloof from suffering. He is 'the crucified God' (as the title of the book by the German theologian Jurgen Moltrnann puts it) He has entered our world and knows and understands all about suffering. On the cross Jesus sets us an example of self-sacrificial love (1 Peter 2:2).  Each of these aspects we could look at for a week on its own but we haven't the time. I want to concentrate here on four images that the New Testament uses to describe what Jesus did on the cross for us. As John Stott points out, each of them is taken from a different area of day-to-day life.

The first image comes from the law court. (Forgiveness of sins)

Paul says that through Christ's death 'we have been justified' (Romans 5:1) Justification is a legal term. If you went to court and were acquitted, you were justified.

Two people went through school and university together and developed a close friendship. Life went on and they went their different ways and lost contact. One went on to become a judge, while the other one went down and down and ended up a criminal. One day the criminal appeared before the judge. He had committed a crime to which he pleaded guilty. The judge recognised his old friend, and faced a dilemma. He was a judge so he had to be just; he couldn't let the man off. On the other hand, he didn't want to punish the man, because he loved him. So he told his friend that he would fine him the correct penalty for the offence. That is justice. Then he came down from his position as judge and he wrote a cheque for the amount of the fine. He gave it to his friend, saying that he would pay the penalty for him. That is love.

This is an illustration of what God has done for us. In his justice, he judges us because we are guilty, but then, in his love, he comes down in the person of his Son Jesus Christ and pays the penalty for us. In this way he is both 'just' (in that he does not allow the guilty to go unpunished) and 'the one who justifies'--Romans 3:26 (in that by taking the penalty himself, in the person of his Son, he enables us to go free). He is both our Judge and our Saviour. It is not an innocent third party but God himself who saves us. In effect, he gives us a cheque and says we have a choice: do we want him to pay it for us or are we going to face the judgement of God for our own wrong-doing?

The illustration I have used is not an exact one for three reasons. First, our plight is worse. The penalty we are facing is not just a fine, but death. Secondly, the relationship is closer. This is not just two friends: it is our Father in heaven who loves us more than any earthly father loves his own child.  Thirdly the cost was greater: it cost God not money, but his one and only Son--who paid the penalty of sin.

The second image comes from the market-place. (Freedom from the power of sin)

Debt is not a problem confined to the present day- it was a problem in the ancient world as well. If someone had serious debts, he might be forced to sell himself into slavery in order to pay them off. Suppose a man was standing in the market-place, offering himself as a slave. Someone might have pity on him and ask, 'How much do you owe?' The debtor might say, ',:10,000.' Suppose the customer offers to pay the ,10,000 and then lets him go free. In doing so, he would be 'redeeming him' by paying a 'ransom price'.

In a similar way for us 'redemption . . . came by Jesus Christ' (Romans 3:24). Jesus by his death on the cross paid the ransom price (Mark 10:45). In this way, we are set free from the power of sin. This is true freedom. Jesus said, 'If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed' John 8:36). It is not that we never sin again, but that sin's hold over us is broken.

Nicky Gumbel wrote this of a man he knows: Billy Nolan is fifty-eight. He was an alcoholic for thirty-five years. For twenty years he sat outside Holy Trinity Brompton drinking alcohol, begging for money. On 13th May 1990, he looked in the mirror and said, 'You're not the Billy Nolan I once knew.' To use his own expression, he asked the Lord Jesus Christ into his life and made a covenant with him that he would never drink alcohol again. He has not touched a drop since. His life is transformed. He radiates the love and joy of Christ. I once said to him, 'Billy, you look happy.' He replied, 'I am happy because I am free. Life is like a maze and at last I have found a way out through Jesus Christ.' Jesus' death on the cross made this freedom from the Power of sin possible.

The third image comes from the temple  or the sacrifice. 

In the Old Testament, very careful laws were laid down as to how sins should be dealt with. There was a whole system of sacrifices which demonstrated the seriousness of sin and the need for cleansing from it.

In a typical case the sinner would take an animal. The animal was to be as near perfection as possible. The sinner would lay his hands on the animal and confess his sins. Thus the sins were seen to pass from the sinner to the animal which was then killed.

The writer of Hebrews points out that it is 'impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins' (Hebrews 10:4). It was only a picture or a 'shadow' (Hebrews 10:1). The reality came with the sacrifice of Jesus. Only the blood of Christ, our substitute, can take away our sin, because he alone was the perfect sacrifice since he alone lived a perfect life. His blood purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7) and removes the pollution of sin.

The fourth image comes from the home. (A new relationship with God & the gift of eternal life)

We saw that both the root and the result of sin was a broken relationship with God. The result of the cross is the possibility of a restored relationship with God. Paul says that 'God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ' (2 Corinthians 5:19, italics mine). Some people caricature the New Testament teaching and suggest that God is unjust because he punished Jesus, an innocent party, instead of us. This is not what the New Testament says. Rather, Paul says, 'God was . . . in Christ.' He was himself the substitute in the person of his Son. He made it possible for us to be restored to a relationship with him.

The partition of sin has been destroyed. What happened to the Prodigal Son can happen to us. We can come back to the Father and experience his love and blessing. The relationship is not only for this life: it is eternal. One day we will be with the Father in heaven - there we will be free, not only from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, the pollution of sin and the partition of sin, but also from the presence of sin. That is what God has made possible through his self-substitution on the cross.

God loves each one of us so much and longs to be in a relationship with us as a human father longs to be in a relationship with each of his children. It is not just that Jesus died for everyone. He died for you and for me; it is very personal. Paul writes of 'the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me' (Galatians 2:20). If you had been the only person in the world, Jesus would have died for you. Once we see the cross in these personal terms, our lives will be transformed.  - [top]

Copyright 2005 CofE.org.uk  Please contact our webmaster if you have questions or comments.